Tony Sage tries for WA rugby league team

Mining magnate Tony Sage will meet with Australian Rugby League Commission chief executive David Gallop on Tuesday to ascertain the chances of having a Perth-based team in the competition.

Sage and former rugby league international Ben Elias are very keen to have a rugby league team in WA but want to know what the ARLC has in mind before they commit to a bid.

Sage also owns the A-League’s Perth Glory and is looking to create a sporting organisation similar to Nathan Tinkler’s ownership of both rugby league’s Newcastle Knights and soccer’s Newcastle Jets.

“We’ve very keen and the synergies we’ve seen that Nathan has been able to achieve have been impressive.

“But before we start spending money on a bid we need to know rugby league is serious about expansion and serious about going to WA. There would have to be funding for junior development and promotion, which we estimate will cost about $5 million a year for the first five years.”

The meeting will be one of the first for Gallop in his renamed role, as the National Rugby League was replaced last Friday by the ALRC and a nine-member commission headed by chairman John Grant.

Sage says a new 25,000-seater stadium in Perth being built by the WA government would serve the needs of a league team, Perth Glory and rugby union’s Western Force.

WA had a league team in the 1990s but it fell victim to the super league war. It is expected bids will come from other WA groups. Brisbane and the NSW Central Coast are expected to bid as well if the ALRC decides to expand in the next few years.

But Elias says a team in WA is a perfect fit because it would give the ALRC another valuable broadcasting deal.

“That will be important when they come to sit down with the broadcasters for the next deal.”